“They used planks of wood, batons, canes, horsewhips, and so many other things that the two brothers could not see or make sense of. They mostly targeted their heads.”

“Tradition is an indifferent god. Like love, that one does not see it, or see it whole, does not mean it ceases to exist; if it is not possible to see, like one’s soul, it is often hidden from view, like one’s sole.”

“Needless to say, hair is the joy and terror of Ethiopian girlhood. In my grandmother’s time, my great grandfather would mount a horse and take his only daughter out of nine children, miles to the best hair braider in the area.”

“years and years later, the reconciliation, it happens in a dream. We stand face to face for the first time – maybe the first time ever – and in her hand, palm open to the sky, are rings: one for each promise made, unkept, but here again, a complete circle, glimmering in that selfsame sunshine from years ago.”

“As a child, it is strange what you feel when you see a Rumba Woman walking around in the quarter: you admire her and pity her in equal measure.”